FEDERAL POWER ACT1

PART I

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a commission is hereby created and established, to be known as the Federal Power Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "commission") which shall be composed of five commissioners who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, one of whom shall be designated by the President as chairman and shall be the principal executive officer of the commission: Provided, That after the expiration of the original term of the commissioner so designated as chairman by the President, chairmen shall be elected by the commission itself, each chairman when so elected to act as such until the expiration of his term of office. [16 U.S.C. 792]

The commissioners first appointed under this section, as amended, shall continue in office for terms of one, two, three, four, and five years, respectively, from the date this section, as amended, takes effect, the term of each to be designated by the President at the time of nomination. Their successors shall be appointed each for a term of five years from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed and until his successor is appointed and has qualified, except that he shall not so continue to serve beyond the expiration of the next session of Congress subsequent to the expiration of said fixed term of office, and except that any person appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the unexpired term. Not more than three of the commissioners shall be appointed from the same political party. No person in the employ of or holding any official relation to any licensee or to any person, firm, association, or corporation engaged in the generation, transmission, distribution, or sale of power, or owning stock or bonds thereof, or who is in any manner pecuniarily interested therein, shall enter upon the duties of or hold the office of commissioner. Said commissioners shall not engage in any other business, vocation, or employment. No vacancy in the commission shall impair the right of the remaining commissioners to exercise all the powers of the commission. Three members of the commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and the commission shall have an official seal of which judicial notice shall be taken. The commission shall annually elect a vice chairman to act in case of the absence or disability of the chairman or in case of a vacancy in the office of chairman. [16 U.S.C. 792]

'This Act appears in 16 U.S.C. 791a-825r. Bracketed notes are used at the end of each paragraph for the convenience of the reader to indicate the United States Code citation.

Each commissioner shall receive an annual salary of $10,000, together with necessary traveling and subsistence expenses, or per diem allowance in lieu thereof, within the limitations prescribed by law, while away from the seat of government upon official business. [16 U.S.C. 792]

The principal office of the commission shall be in the District of Columbia, where its general sessions shall be held; but whenever the convenience of the public or of the parties may be promoted or delay or expense prevented thereby, the commission may hold special session in any part of the United States. [16 U.S.C. 792]

SEC. 2. The commission shall have authority to appoint, prescribe the duties, and fix the salaries of a secretary, a chief engineer, a general counsel, a solicitor, and a chief accountant; and may, subject to the civil service laws, appoint such other officers and employees as are necessary in the execution of its functions and fix their salaries in accordance with the Classification Act of 1949. The commission may request the President to detail an officer or officers from the Corps of Engineers, or other branches of the United States Army, to serve the commission as engineer officer or officers, or in any other capacity, in field work outside the seat of government, their duties to be prescribed by the commission; and such detail is hereby authorized. The President may also, at the request of the commission, detail, assign, or transfer to the commission engineers in or under the Departments of the Interior or Agriculture for field work outside the seat of government under the direction of the commission. [16 U.S.C. 793]

The Commission may make such expenditures (including expenditures for rent and personal services at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books, periodicals, and books of reference, and for printing and binding) as are necessary to execute its functions. Expenditures by the commission shall be allowed and paid upon the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor, approved by the chairman of the Commission or by such other member or officer as may be authorized by the Commission for that purpose subject to applicable regulations under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended. [16 U.S.C. 793]

SEC. 3. The words defined in this section shall have the following meanings for purpose of this Act, to wit:

(1) "public lands" means such lands and interest in lands owned by the United States as are subject to private appropriation and disposal under public land laws. It shall not include "reservations," as hereinafter defined; [16 U.S.C. 796(1)]

(2) "reservations" means national forest, tribal lands embraced within Indian reservations, military reservations, and other lands and interests in lands owned by the United States, and withdrawn, reserved, or withheld from private appropriation and disposal under the public land laws; also lands and interests in lands acquired and held for any public purposes; but shall not include national monuments or national parks; [16 U.S.C 796(2)]

(3) "corporation" means any corporation, joint-stock company, partnership, association, business trust, organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not, or a receiver or receivers, trustee or trustees of any of the foregoing. It shall not include "municipalities" as hereinafter defined; [16 U.S.C. 796(3)]

(4) "person" means an individual or a corporation; [16 U.S.C. 796(4)]

(5) "licensee" means any person, State, or municipality licensed under the provisions of section 4 of this Act, and any assignee or successor in interest thereof; [16 U.S.C. 796(5)]

(6) "State" means a State admitted to the Union, the District of Columbia, and any organized Territory of the United States; [16 U.S.C. 796(6)]

(7) “municipality" means a city, county, irrigation district, drainage district, or other political subdivision or agency of a State competent under the laws thereof to carry on the business of developing, transmitting, utilizing, or distributing power; [16 U.S.C. 796(7)]

(8) "navigable waters" means those parts of streams or other bodies of water over which Congress has jurisdiction under its authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, and which either in their natural or improved condition notwithstanding interruptions between the navigable parts of such streams or waters by falls, shallows, or rapids compelling land carriage, are used or suitable for use for the transportation of persons or property in interstate or foreign commerce, including therein all such interrupting falls, shallows, or rapids, together with such other parts of streams as shall have been authorized by Congress for improvement by the United States or shall have been recommended to Congress for such improvement after investigation under its authority; [16 U.S.C. 796(8)]

(9) "municipal purposes" means and includes all purposes within municipal powers as defined by the constitution or laws of the State or by the charter of the municipality; [16 U.S.C. 796(9)]

(10) "Government dam" means a dam or other work constructed or owned by the United States for Government purposes with or without contribution from others; [16 U.S.C. 796(10)]

(11) "project" means complete unit of improvement or development, consisting of a power house, all water conduits, all dams and appurtenant works and structures including navigation structures) which are a part of said unit, and all storage, diverting, or forebay reservoirs directly connected therewith, the primary line or lines transmitting power therefrom to the point of junction with the distribution system or with the interconnected primary transmission system, all miscellaneous structures used and useful in connection with said unit or any part thereof, and all water-rights, rights-ofway, ditches, dams, reservoirs, lands, or interest in lands the use and occupancy of which are necessary or appropriate in the maintenance and operation of such unit; [16 U.S.C. 796(11)]

(12) "project works" means the physical structures of a project; [16 U.S.C. 796(12)]

(13) "net investment" in a project means the actual legitimate original cost thereof as defined and interpreted in the "classification of investment in road and equipment of steam roads, issue of 1914, Interstate Commerce Commission," plus similar cost of additions thereto and betterments thereof, minus the sum of the following items properly allocated thereto, if and to the extent that such items have been accumulated during the period of the license from earnings in excess of a fair return on such investment: (a) Unappropriated surplus, (b) aggregate credit balances of current depreciation accounts, and (c) aggregate appropriations of surplus or

income held in amoritization, sinking fund, or similar reserves, or expended for additions or betterments or used for the purposes for which such reserves were created. The term "cost" shall include, insofar as applicable, the elements thereof prescribed in said classification, but shall not include expenditures from funds obtained through donations by States, municipalities, individuals, or others, and said classification of investment of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall insofar as applicable be published and promulgated as a part of the rules and regulations of the Commission; [16 U.S.C. 796(13)]

(14) "Commission" and "Commissioner" means the Federal Power Commission, and a member thereof, respectively; [16 U.S.C. 796(14)]

(15) "State commission" means the regulatory body of the State or municipality having jurisdiction to regulate rates and charges for the sale of electric energy to consumers within the State or municipality; [16 U.S.C. 796(15)]

(16) "security" means any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, or other evidence of interest in or indebtedness of a corporation subject to the provisions of this Act; [16 U.S.C. 796(16)] (17)(A) "small power production facility" means a facility

which

(i) produces electric energy solely by the use, as a primary energy source, of biomass, waste, renewable resources, geothermal resources, or any combination thereof; and

(ii) has a power production capacity which, together with any other facilities located at the same site (as determined by the Commission), is not greater than 80 megawatts;

(B) "primary energy source" means the fuel or fuels used for the generation of electric energy, except that such term does not include, as determined under rules prescribed by the Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy

(i) the minimum amounts of the fuel required for ignition, startup, testing, flame stabilization, and control uses, and (ii) the minimim amounts of fuel required to alleviate or pre

vent

(I) unanticipated equipment outages, and

(II) emergencies, directly affecting the public health, safety, or welfare, which would result from electric power outages;

(C) "qualifying small power production facility" means a small power production facility

(i) which the Commission determines, by rule, meets such requirements (including requirements respecting fuel use, fuel efficiency, and reliability) as the Commission may, by rule, prescribe; and

(ii) which is owned by a person not primarily engaged in the generation or sale of electric power (other than electric power solely from cogeneration facilities or small power production facilities);

(D) "qualifying small power producer" means the owner or opertor of a qualifying small power production facility;

(18)(A) "cogeneration facility" means a facility which produces(i) electric energy, and